Deep well pump



2 She ts-Sheet l W. J. CRITES DEEP WELL PUMP Filed March 8, 1941 w 7 u aw ////w// T T w A \m\\ w M 2 x m H M Jan, 26, 1943.

INVENTOR WILBUR J. canes BY a ATTORNE? W. J. CIRVTE Jan. 26, 1943.

EP will. YUM?" Filed. March 8, Shwetsaiheet 2 INVENTOR WILBUR J. CRITESI WORN? Patented Jan. 26, 1943 DEEP WELL PUIVIP Wilbur J. Crites,Bartlesville, Okla, assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company, acorporation of Delaware Application March 8, 1941, Serial No. 382,414

' 2 Claims. ("01. 103-244) This invention relates to oil well pumps andmore particularly to an oil well pump employing fluid under pressure asa means for lifting the oil from the well.

In reservoirs in which relatively large amounts of gas or at least wheregas occurs in sufiicient quantities to assist materially in lifting oilto the surface, it is often a serious problem to control this gas sothat it can be used properly for this purpose. As oil and gas flow tothe well bore gas will be evolved from solution and dissipated at thesurface of the oil as lost energy unlessit is properly controlled foruse in the annular space between the tubing and the casing. When wellscease to flow naturally through the tubing or through the casing, it iscommon to run a string of tubing with a packer installed near thereservoir so that the energy of the gas may be used directly in liftingthe oil. This method will often prolong the flowing life of a well,however, there will come a time when the percentage of gas to oil is toogreat and a large amount of the gas energy will be dissipated throughthe tubing string without doing useful work in lifting oil and the oilwill be obstructed in its flow to the well bore by the creation of agaseous condition in the sand or in the formation immediatelysurrounding the well. The opposite condition may exist in which the oilis predominant and there is not suflicient gas to lift all the oil thatcomes to the well bore and under this condition the well will cease toflow. Under either of these conditions remedial measures must beapplied.

In the former case it is common practice to segregate the gas and oilhorizons either by the installation of a packer by which procedure thegas may be produced in the annular space between the tubing and thecasing above the packer, and the oil produced through the tub .ing; orthrough a process of cementation in which the gas is partly or entirelysealed off from the well bore and confined to the reservoir.

In the latter case, that is, in a well having a low gas-oil ratio, it isnecessary to use some artificial means for lifting oil, the most commonof which, and probably the most effective, is the gas lift. This methodof lifting oil involves adding suiiicient extraneous gas energy to causethe well to flow.

Either of these methods are but temporary expediencies and later furtherproduction of such wells of either class will require installa- .tion ofother types of equipment.

An important object oi. the invention is to provide an improvement inpumping apparatus of the type illustrated in the United States PatentNo. 2,202,970, granted to Steele, June 4, 1940, for an oil well pump andother similar devices using a valve which may be operated from thesurface to intermittently or continuously inject and eject gas to orfrom an accumulation chamber for the purpose of producing fluid fromwells.

A further object is to provide a device adapted to utilize gas from aproducing formation for lifting purposes and which would otherwise bewasted or tend to accumulate in the formation and obstruct the flow offluids into the well bore.

Another object of the invention is to provide means of cutting off thegas supplied from the surface to operate the pump and using formationgas for this purpose.

Other objects of this invention not at this time enumerated will beapparent from the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, andwherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodimentof this invention, like numerals are employed to designate like partsthroughout the same,

Figure 1 is an elevation view of the pump structure constructed inaccordance with this invention showing the pump in the well tubingstrings and surface equipment,

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the pump apparatus in positionto exhaust .the accumulation chamber,

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the pump apparatus in positionto admit gas under pressure into the accumulator chamber,

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view through the pump apparatus takenon the line l4 of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view of the pump set taken on theline 5-5 of Figure 3 when the pump mechanism is removed, and

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view through the pump apparatus takenon the line 6-6 of Figure 3.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10represents the casing which lines the well hole and extends from thesurface of the ground to the well bottom. The

space I4 between the outer tubing string II and the casing Icommunicates with the outlet pipe I6 and serves to conduct the gasexhausted from the accumulation chamber to the atmosphere or otherdisposal. Pipe I1 serves to conduct the oil flowing from the reservoirthrough the tubing string I2 to. storage.

Mounted on the surface of the ground is the motor I8 which rotates thegear I9. Gear I9 in turn rotates the gear which has gear 2I keyed to thesame shaft. Gear 2| meshes with gear 22 which is keyed rigidly to theinner tubing string I 2. Inner tubing string I2 is supported by bearing23 and is rotated by the motor and gear mechanism to turn the cylinderin the pump mechanism in the bottom of the well. This control mechanismwill be explained more fully later.

The tubing II extends down into the well hole 24. A bull plug or otherprotecting device 56 is mounted on the bottom of the well down-pipe 25,which in turn is attached to the bottom of chamber 21. Down-pipe 25 isequipped with openings or orifices 39 through which oil passes from well24 into down-pipe 25. The walls of the chamber 21 are essentially acontinuation of the above-mentioned tubing II. This plug or protectorserves to protect the standing valve 26 from mud or sand accumulationsin the bottom of the hole. Above the standing valve 26 is a space 21which is the oil acumulation chamber. Extending inwardly from the tubingstring II and just above the top of the accumulation chamber 21 is aflange 28 which has a seat portion to receive the pump mechanism whenlowered within the outer tubing II, The flange 22- has a channel oroutlet port 29 therethrough which passage communicates with the space I4between the casing I0 and the outer tubing II.

The flange or projection 50 on the seat 28 aligns the barrel 32 whenplaced on the seat 28 and insures against rotation of the barrel if theplug should become stuck to the barrel.

Mounted on the lower end of the inner tubing I2 by means of screwthreads 3| is the pump mechanism 30 which has a portion on the endthereof to seat and seal with the seat 28 on the flange in the outerstring of tubing II. The pump mechanism 30 is made up of an outercylindrical member or barrel 32 which has the inner cylindrical plugmember 33 rotatably mounted therein. The two members 32 and 33 are heldin assembled relation by the screw thimble 34 which is attached by thescrew threads 35 to the outer cylindrical member or barrel 32 and theshoulder portion of the thimble contacts the upper end of the plug tohold the same assem-- bled within the member 32. Bearings 36 are mountedin the space 31 in the thimble 34 to relieve friction and add support tothe inner tubing I2.

In the side wall of the member 32 is the passage 40 which communicateswith the annular space I3 and the passage M in the plug member 33. Themember'32 has the passage 42 in the opposite side from passage 40, whichcommunicates with the passage 40 through the passage M in the plugmember when the passages are aligned as shown in Figure 4. Pasasge 43extends vertically through member 32, thus establishing communicationbetween the accumulation chamber 21 and the annular space l3 when theplug is in the position shown in Figure 3. In the lower end of themember 32, is a branch passage 44 which connects with the passage 43 to75 asoaesa establish communication through the passage 45 in the plug,passage 46 in the lower end of the member 32 and thence through passage29 in the seat portion to the annular space I4 to exhaust the pressuregas from the accumulation chamber when the plug is in the position shownin Figure 2.

The plug member has a central passage 49 extending the length of theplug and a nipple 41 with check valve 48 and delivery tube 38 to conductthe flow of oil from the accumulation chamber 21 to the inner tubingstring I2 and then to the surface of the ground. Check valve 48 preventsflow of the oil from the tubing string I2 back into the accumulationchamber.

Packer 54 in the preferred embodiment of this invention is installed inthe annular space between casing I0 and the outer tubing II at a pointbelow the outlet of pasage 29 in the seat portion of said outer tubing.At a point above the control mechanism 30, the upper end of a by-pass 52is connected to the outer tubing II. This by-pass 52 projects downwardlytherefrom through the packer 54 and terminates at a point just belowsaid packer. On the lower end of by-pass tube 52 is a check valve 53 soincorporated that communication is aiforded from the space 24 belowpacker 54, into the annular space between outer tubing II and innertubing I2 at a point above control mechanism 30,

It is to be understood that this by-pass may be incorporated in anyother way so that it affords communication from the area below packer54, represented generally by the numeral 24, into the annular spaceabove packer 54 which serves to conduct gas from the surface to operatethe pump.

At or near the ground surface is gas inlet I5 in which is incorporatedinlet check valve 55 so that gas may be introduced at this point intothe annular space between outer tubing I I and inner tubing I2. Gasoutlet I6 is located at or near the ground surface in casing III so thata passage may be maintained from the annular space between casing I0 andouter tubing II to an outside point of accumulation or dissipation.

In operation, outer tubing string II carrying packer'54 and by-pass tube52 is set within well casing string I0. Pump mechanism 30 is lowered ontubing string I2 to the proper position on seat 28 in inner tubing I I.Thus pump mechanism 3G and inner tubing I2 can be removed from the wellwithout removing outer tubing II. Tubing l2 and plug 33 on the lower endthereof are rotated by a drive means from the surface.

Outer tubing string II is set in well casing III at such a point thatfluid from the well will fill accumulation chamber 21. As plug 33rotates it alternately aligns passage 4| therein with passages 40 and42, thereby placing annular space I3, having gas therein under pressurefrom line I5,

in communication with accumulation chamber 21.

Fluid from the well in chamber 21 is forced by this gas through nipple41, check valve 48, passage-49, into the tubing I2 and thus to the surface of the ground.

As plug 33 continues to rotate the passages will align, as shown inFigure 2, thus closing off the supply of gas under pressure to theaccumulation chamber 21 to allow the chamber to exhaust and thus berefilled with fluid from the formation. Since plug 33 continues torotate the cycle of operation is an alternate one of admitting gas underpressure to the accumulation chamber 21 to force out the fluid from theformation and exhausting the chamber of residual gas before it refills.

Gas evolving from the formation collects below packer 54 until thepressure of the accumulated gas exceeds the pressure of the gas in theannular space l3. When a pressure differential is created, check valve53 opens and permits passage of gas from below packer 54 to the annularspace l3 where it is utilized to lift fluid from chamber 21 to thesurface of the earth. Check valve 55 in the surface inlet gas line 15 isclosed when check valve 53 is open, thereby cutting oil the gas from thesurface and utilizing the gas from the producing formation to lift thefluid.

It is to be understood that the form of this invention, herewith shownand described, is a preferred example of the same and that variousmodifications may be made therein without materially departing from thespirit of this invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

' 1. In apparatus for lifting fluid through a well bore having wellcasirg therein, the combi-,

nation comprising inner and outer tubing members lowered into thecasing, a first annular space between the casing and the outer tubingmember, a second annular space between the inner and outer tubingmembers, a fluid accumulation chamber at the lower end of'the tubingmembers, means controlled by the inner tubing member for introducingactuating fluid under pressure through the second annular space into theaccumulation chamber; the inner tubing being the discharge conduit tothe surface of the groundfor the fluid accumulated in the accumulationchamber, further means controlled by the inner tubing member for closingoff the supply of actuating fluid under pressure and exhaustingtheaccumulation chamber of pressure fluid to the first annular space,packer means between the outer tubing member and the Well casingdividing the first annular space into an upper section communicatingwith the surface of the ground and a lower section communicating withthe well bore, a conduit through the packer hav-- ing one endcommunicating with the well bore and the other end communicating withthe first annular space to deliver well fluid to the first annular spacewhen the pressure of the well fluid exceeds the pressure of theactuating fluid, and check valve means associated with the first annularspace which are closed by the pressure of the well fluid when deliveredto the first annular space.

2. In apparatus for lifting fluid through a well bore having well casingtherein, the combination comprising inner and outer tubing memberslowered into the casing, a first annular space be tween the casing andthe outer tubing member. a second annular space between the inner andouter tubing members, a fluid accumulation chamber at the lower end ofthe tubing members, means controlled by the inner tubing member forintroducing actuating fluid under pres ure through the second annularspace into the accumulation chamber, the inner tubing being thedischarge conduit to the surface of the ground for the fluidacciunulated in the accumulation chamber, further means controlled bythe inner tubing member for closing off the supply of actuating fluidunder pressure and exhausting the accumulation chamber of pressure iluidto the first annular space, packer means between the outer tubing memberand the well casing dividing the first annular space into an uppersection communicating with the surface of the ground and a lower sectioncommunicating with the well bore, a conduit through the packer havingone end communicating with the well bore and the other end communicatingwith the first annular space to deliver well fluid to the first annularspace when the pressure of the well fluid exceeds the pressure of theactuating fluid, and check valve means in the conduit allowing flow intothe first annular space but preventing flow from the first annular spaceinto the formation.

WILBU'RLCRI'I'ES.

